Seminar to support British Asian jewellers
BIRMINGHAM, England, April 3, 2012 – The British Jewellers’ Association and Birmingham Assay Office have joined forces to highlight issues facing the Asian jewellery community, including the impact of the high gold price.
With the help of West Midlands Police and local media, work is currently being undertaken by both organizations to present a wide reaching seminar that will be held in Birmingham on April 30th.
On the agenda for discussion will be the issues of security, hallmarking and trading in second hand jewellery.
“The escalating price of gold has unfortunately led to an increasing rate of crime against the Asian community,” said Simon Rainer, CEO of the British Jewellers’ Association.
“The seminar will highlight the precautions that Asian jewellery retailers need to take to lower the risk of crime against them and their property. It will also alert them to the various tactics that the criminal fraternity are now employing to gain illegal access to trading premises.”
As the gold of choice for the Asian community is predominantly 22 carat, customers are also vulnerable to being cheated if the jewellery is not of the stated fineness. If it has not been assayed and hallmarked – a legal requirement to protect both the consumer and the trade — they have no way of telling what percentage of gold it contains.
“Most recently an operation conducted by Birmingham Trading Standards netted a 50,000 pounds haul of unmarked jewellery from 21 retailers over the West Midlands in the UK,” said Michael Allchin, Assay Master at The Birmingham Assay Office.
“We are using the seminar as a great opportunity to explain the importance of hallmarking and how Birmingham Assay Office can work with local traders to ensure they stay on the right side of the law.”
The seminar will also be the platform for the official launch of “The Gold Standard”, a joint collaboration between Surrey Police and jewellers’ groups to provide a voluntary and uniform code on how to buy second hand jewellery over the counter.
Tickets for the seminar which will be held at the Jewellery Quarter Conference Centre are available by calling Holly Burnett on 0121 237 1144 or registering online at www.bja.org.uk/ajs
The British Jewellers’ Association looks after the interests of nearly 1,100 companies involved in the jewellery supply industry.
Birmingham Assay Office is the largest Assay Office in the UK, hallmarking millions of articles of gold, silver, platinum and palladium every year to protect the consumer and the trade.
